Tuesday afternoon, my husband Jeff called my cell phone to tell me that the electric was off at home. That is typical of a stormy day at my rural Oklahoma residence. I called the electric company so that they would come and check out the problem. When Piper and I drove into the driveway, Jeff was outside. He said, "No need going in the house. It's dark and you can't see." So, we stood outside waiting for the electric company to arrive.

I could see from the carport that there was one wire hanging down from the power line, where it should not have been. The electric company workers took a big pole with a claw on the end and snapped the wire back into its connector. They checked to make sure the meter was running, which it was. We stood around their truck talking for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, one of my Chihuahuas, Pena, came running out to the truck! He was acting very strangely, and he was out of the house. Pena never leaves the house without me there with him. I know that our storm door will open if you push hard enough on it, despite the latch. Pena somehow managed to open the storm door and run to me. I asked my daughter Piper to go and make sure the door was shut because I know it is hard enough to catch one runaway Chihuahua. I did not want to think about trying to catch seven of them. Piper went to the door and screamed at the top of her lungs, "MOM! DAD! FIRE!"

The electric company men came running with fire extinguishers and doused the flames, which were already leaping up the living room wall. Apparently, when they reconnected the electric wire, there was a power surge that shorted out a circuit in the wall. The lamp plugged into that socket took the brunt of it and caught fire! I lost a table, lamp, some collectibles, and a book. The wall is charred and the ceiling is black. Everything smells like burning plastic and electric wires. I did manage to rush all the Chihuahuas out of the house, even though Loco hid in the bathroom like a scared child. He was the only one who suffered from smoke inhalation.

If it were not for Pena, my house would have burned down! If the electric had come back on while I was still at work, my house would have burned down! . I am taking Pena’s story to the newspaper because I think he deserves to be called a hero. He deserves a story in the paper and steak every night.